lwalden
Member
This really only works well with segments that are 90 degrees to the axis legth of the pen, but I've found it saves me a lot of time and has significantly improved the accuracy of my glue ups for those type of segmented blanks. I'm including a pic of the Texas Tech Red Raider prototype I did recently as an example of the type of segmenting this works well with.....
Image Insert:
If you look at the pic closely, you'll see the segments didn't line up accurately. Part of this was related to me getting the orientation of the segments out of whack, hence the numbering I'm now doing on each segment that can be seen in the jig pics below. Another part of that was related to the twisting effect I was getting tryting to clamp the piece up with a simple bar clamp. By building the jig with the cradle for the pieces 45 degrees rotated from square, it makes it easy to keep everything lined up, as well as flush on the two sides that rest in the cradle. That way clean up sanding only really needs to be done on the two upper sides, and primarily for removal of the excess pick guard laminate and aluminum spacers I used. And by using UHMW for the contact pieces, clean up is a breeze. I also left a gap between the two pieces that form the bed of the cradle, so glue build-up during clamping wouldn't create an obstacle.
And here's a few pics of the clamping jig....
All in all not very pretty, and not very complex, but works pretty darn good for a first version.
Comments, and recommendations for improvements, would be appreciated.
Image Insert:
If you look at the pic closely, you'll see the segments didn't line up accurately. Part of this was related to me getting the orientation of the segments out of whack, hence the numbering I'm now doing on each segment that can be seen in the jig pics below. Another part of that was related to the twisting effect I was getting tryting to clamp the piece up with a simple bar clamp. By building the jig with the cradle for the pieces 45 degrees rotated from square, it makes it easy to keep everything lined up, as well as flush on the two sides that rest in the cradle. That way clean up sanding only really needs to be done on the two upper sides, and primarily for removal of the excess pick guard laminate and aluminum spacers I used. And by using UHMW for the contact pieces, clean up is a breeze. I also left a gap between the two pieces that form the bed of the cradle, so glue build-up during clamping wouldn't create an obstacle.
And here's a few pics of the clamping jig....
All in all not very pretty, and not very complex, but works pretty darn good for a first version.
Comments, and recommendations for improvements, would be appreciated.
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] See, that's the difference between listening to "phantom of the Opera" while coming up with a blank design, and listening to good ol' Stevie Ray while slapping some straight cuts together........[8D]
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